Best Quietus Poems
In a mire brewed
betwixt puddles of hell and mute dissent
a martyr wades -
weighed down by chains of shame and disdain
alas the thirsting self-absorbed swamp
distills and swills her stewed silence
and swallows the last embers
from her goblet of dreamer’s fire
pursed breaths are pickpocketed by the shallows
in a breathless vertical twist
an escapist is lost in the swirl of a chambered nautilus
distanced and deserted in the dance of descent
stillness belies the waterline’s greed
as a heroine’s salvage is suffocated -
the slick of self-appointed apathy anoints the surface
and a disquieted wind rises to bend the will of reeds
their flutes airing plainsong in forced supplication
yet carelessly cast away like spindrift from broken crests
while storm clouds blindfold wide-eyed skies
stifling any play of sun on water
Susan Ashley
May 1, 2020
~ Third Place ~
Premiere Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 1
Sponsor: Mark Toney
~ Fourth Place ~
Premiere Contest: Spiral
Sponsor: Kai Michael Neumann
Categories:
quietus, angst, conflict, dark, depression,
Form:
Free verse
Each moment so sweet, enjoy it,
Just dwell on life's good things;
With life's course of verse, rhyme a bit,
Much joy, to you, it brings.
See the poise of the sea:
Her harmonic chord be
Her ebb and flow you see!
With a smile you greet,
Each moment so sweet.
Quietus
02/04/2022
QUIETUS (Jan 2022 edition) Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Unseeking Seeker
Categories:
quietus, life, philosophy, truth,
Form:
Rhyme
My divine strength, shield my dismay
Exult holly swiftness
Yield not to dull gloomy betray
Creed gapes at lavishness
Yield the boon, not the bad
Dark source upward forbade
Let not soul dwells in cad
Lift lush roots faith
My divine strength
Categories:
quietus, analogy, beauty, confidence, devotion,
Form:
Rhyme
God, earn a place in our hearts
As we feeble being
Sighting us, we strive for grafts
Save our day of rising
Love each day, is his way
Share thoughts, set time to pray.
Try to grasp facts each day
save us from spates
god, earn a place.
Written: February 04, 2022
Categories:
quietus, angel, appreciation, beauty, devotion,
Form:
Rhyme
"That inward eye; which is the bliss of solitude . . . "
William Wordsworth, English Poet, 1770-1850
I love to be saturated in solitude,
perhaps, I am a rare bird that desires seclusion;
I seek this quietus to withdraw from worldly truths,
drowning in the peace it for a breathtaking interlude.
I need this detachment so that my pen can drip;
and all the tangled cobwebs in my mind can speak.
_____________________
March 13, 2020
Poetry/Verse/Quietus
Copyright Protected, ID 20-1236-101-03
All Rights Reserved, 2020, Constance La France
Submitted to the contest, Strand Choice F
sponsor, Brian Strand
Second Place
Categories:
quietus, silence,
Form:
Verse
White chariot
pounds pavement blue,
hooves beat tattoo
on drum of sky.
Ashen fleece borne,
softly I lie,
earth's pull defy-
victory ride.
Faye Gibson
Copyright, August 3, 2014
Categories:
quietus, death, sky,
Form:
Verse
I lie here still and cold.
My eyes grey and fathomless,
My cancer- stricken body.
Awaiting the quietus of my final nap.
A sleep that will last an eternity,
Filled with a tiresome, repetitious rhapsody.
My story forever untold,
The delinquency of my fable
Written 21-03-2018
Categories:
quietus, betrayal, cancer, cry, death,
Form:
Prose
after the guns stop
flowers from love letters fall
soft on no man’s ground
no glory be found in this
quietus of butterflies
© Gail Foster 11th November 2016
Categories:
quietus, butterfly, death, history, loss,
Form:
Tanka
This quietus death – sweet release-
a rhapsody enwrapping you.
Fathomless it is; pain will cease.
This quietus death – sweet release!
Your story does not end, for peace
lasts an eternity when life's through!
This quietus death – sweet release-
a rhapsody enwrapping you.
March 24, 2018 for Broken Wing's "5 Words Please" Contest
Categories:
quietus, death,
Form:
Triolet
Fear leashes unforeseen harpoons
when faith flees to the hold.
Wind gauges possible typhoons,
purser murmurs threefold...
fractures in the bulkhead
sailors stymied by dread
damage and death ahead
Fear leashes anxiety;
Faith can anchor urgency.
October 21, 2021
The middle three lines are a leash, a set of three
Categories:
quietus, 11th grade, anxiety, courage,
Form:
Rhyme
No ... there would be no happy end to this story ...
No shining horizon or shimmering visions of tomorrow,
No joyous rhapsody of angels to greet us at the end of THIS tunnel.
The Big Apple was behind us now, fallen to the horrors of the epidemic ...
A gestation period of merely thirty seconds,
Which meant half the globe - half of humanity -
Could be firmly in its grip within 48 hours ...
Just two days! (And that was an optimistic estimate).
I worked for the CDC, but was on vacation with my family ...
My wife, two daughters, one son,
In Manhattan to see "Hamilton" on Broadway.
We were headed back to The Plaza when it happened -
When the first infected folks started to turn.
Whatever it was, it increased metabolism in the host,
As though giving people super powers,
Making them faster, stronger, more erratic, more deadly ...
One bite to the skin, and within half a minute, the person would change ...
Transform, into these ... monsters, crazy eyes and gnashing teeth,
With only one drive and purpose - to bite flesh and spread contagion,
(And the possibilities of mutations were nearly fathomless).
Nature always protects itself ... always finds a way,
And diseases and microorganisms are PART of nature.
Like good bacteria, viruses seek out highly beneficial environments,
And this one had selected the most deadly and formidable of hosts - humans.
On the other end of this long tunnel under the Hudson, was New Jersey ...
We were headed south to Atlanta and CDC headquarters,
But that was an eternity from where we were,
With untold dangers and obstacles ahead,
And in the midst of this horrifying and virulent plague.
The tunnel was empty, thankfully, and dark,
But with a tension-filled quietus that seemed ready to explode.
Our one blessing? It was very early Sunday morning,
And there was little traffic on the highway.
Still, there would be surprises coming, we knew not what ...
Surprises and trials, at the end of this long underpass AND beyond.
We could see the light of the entrance as it drew closer,
We could envision the stress and danger, and feel the cold breath ...
Of doom approaching.
~ 4th Place ~ in the "Tunnel Vision" Poetry Contest, Kai Michael Neumann, Sponsor.
Categories:
quietus, adventure, conflict, science fiction,
Form:
Dramatic Monologue
Come close to me, dearest sweet love.
Hum echoes in my dreams
Let me hear your voice from above,
Elated as love seems.
Each night I feel your kiss,
Darling, you are my bliss,
Hold me tight dear like this.
I care for thee,
Come close to me.
Quietus
Categories:
quietus, dream, love,
Form:
Rhyme
The death of a bird is the death of a song
Like the melody of its lasting breath
Sliced down from an invisible blade of the wind
The quietus of a bird defeats the entity of nature itself
The bereavement of this serenoa
Would bring dissolution upon the serenity
Of this calmness of peace
Even a soul-less renegade or heartless machine
Could enjoy this peace, list it a virtue
The cessation of the entity that was this
Winged small angel of animal
Not the end, but a new beginning
In its nest, its offspring has spread their wings
To continue the siren song of its nature
The sky is the limit, is the sweat visible on its face
Only the beating wings claim its words
Confidence, majestic, determined
But its ruination, the quietus, the bereavement
Which make the ponderer, wanderer wonder
Wonder what's the true meaning of the circle
Does it start with something living, end with an idea
Does the death of a bird equal the cessation of a melody
Categories:
quietus, nature,
Form:
Free verse
Today is the day you show us your worth.
You recede,
you retract,
a retarded new birth.
This taking motion.
Your body paints on the canvas of its life,
an outpouring of you without control.
An abstract,
a schoolboy erraticism,
in colours not seen by your eye.
They take you.
Your canvas awash with human error,
they break you,
they shape you,
they paint you a colour.
These tones are not yours,
a model,
a floorshow,
with no applause.
All of your motions undetected in this hour.
This world has no time for you,
but you are measured,
in black fingernails,
patches in veins,
stitched lips,
in coolth.
They gift you,
cold,
in this place of warmth,
this home.
Unrecorded timelapse shows majestic animation,
interrupted by fast comings,
and faster goings,
and
teardrop
explosions.
You are home,
your home,
our home.
oh, those years of sit down and be quiet,
of all our shortcomings,
our
hearts
darkest
riot.
Categories:
quietus, child, death, sad,
Form:
Free verse
As Autumn delays, I await
Winter's crystal snowflakes
With delight, I anticipate
Skating on frozen lakes
Golden leaves turning red
Bare tree limbs I will dread
But I will look ahead
To chillier days
As Autumn delays
Categories:
quietus, autumn,
Form:
Rhyme